Page 3 of Decoy

You are a condemned prisoner, I reluctantly reminded myself.Someone with your crimes is easily expendable.

By his sinister gleam he knew it but had laid his trap well by presenting a possibility impossible for me to ignore, forhopeproved stronger, acting as a single pinprick of light midst my despair. He allowed this feeling to settle over me for a time before he spoke again.

“Your life was over the moment you committed your crime. I have no regard for it, nor do Their Majesties. However, luckily for you, wedoregard the princess’s life, and because your cooperation is invaluable, we are offering you an incentive to succeed. If you can uncover the assassin’s identitybeforehe acts, you will be granted a full pardon. If not…well, you’ll uncover him with a much more dire price, but rest assured we’ll find him, one way or another.”

My suffocating despair pressed heavily against my chest even as the chance to live caused my knees to buckle until I collapsed in the proffered seat, the movement rattling the chains still binding me. No matter my hatred for the royal family or my frustration at being so ill used, I couldn’t escape the most important truth:I don’t want to die.

Once more he seemed to sense my thoughts and used them as a tool to force me to do his bidding. He lowered his voice to a chilling hiss. “Remember your feelings as you languished in the dungeon, counted down your final hours, first glimpsed the gallows, and imagined the sensation of losing your breath while having your life slowly stolen away, the dreaded feeling of being so close to death…”

He was taunting me in an effort to earn my compliance and thus rob me of my freedom…and unfortunately, it was working exactly as he intended. Yet horrific as these thoughts were, the notion of assisting the royal family I despised seemed a worse fate than even death. Despite this opportunity offering the illusion of an escape, it was still a death sentence, one far more cruel than would come from the agonizing minutes spent at the gallows.

Yet as much as I abhorred the royal family and loathed to assist them, in the end the will to live was more persuasive than even the deepest hatred. And if I accepted, I would remain at the palace, close to…my breath hooked at that realization, nourishment for the hope the advisor’s careful words had already planted.

Would this second chance make it possible to succeed where I’d previously failed?

I found myself nodding in acceptance, sealing my doomed fate. I glared at his resulting smirk—now that I knew my value, I need not comply without a fight—but he only chuckled, as if he viewed me as nothing more than a stubborn child throwing a tantrum.

“Your spirit will only prove useful, further testament you possess the skills and cunning to succeed in this assignment. Despite your life being worthless, we would prefer to uncover the assassin without bloodshed, for the matter is a delicate one.”

“Why is that?” I didn’t personally care, but it was imperative I gather all the information I could.

His expression became grave. “Because according to the prophecy, the assassin is a royal.”

I gaped in disbelief. “What exactly did it say?”

“That’s not important.” His obvious dismissiveness only solidified my desire to uncover the reason now that I had more time than I’d ever expected to receive hours earlier. “What matters is that a fellow royal is plotting to murder the princess, which will result in a myriad of political difficulties. Many royals from the surrounding kingdoms are due to arrive for a celebration being held to greet the new princess. Make your way through the court and uncover their secrets before the unknown threat strikes…and they definitely will with so great a motive.”

He didn’t need to explain further. As a subject of Estoria, I knew the situation well: the crown princess was the sole heir to the throne of a kingdom smaller than those that bordered our land, giving each surrounding kingdom motive to invade our country in order to claim the rare magic we possessed. Without any other claimant to threaten the invaders’ own claims to the throne, upon the princess’s death Estoria would easily fall to their scheming hands.

“Anyone from the other kingdoms is a suspect,” Sir Rupert continued. “In total, four princes are due to arrive, along with several princesses and high-ranking members of the court, none of whom we can easily dismiss as the threat we’re after, nor the likelihood that any of the royalty are working together. If you hope to live, you will need to uncover every possibility.”

My mind whirled with the daunting task. With my limited experience, how would I ever uncover the solution to such a complicated mystery before my borrowed time ran out?

Escape felt like the only option…yet I hesitated to leave until I’d accomplished the very mission that had landed me in this predicament in the first place. But even these secret schemes weren’t safe, for Sir Rupert’s smirk returned, darker than ever.

“We haven’t forgotten that you were captured within the palace. Because you refused to disclose your purpose during your interrogation, the mystery only increases our suspicion. You will not remain unguarded. Never forget that despite the great power the role you play grants, you are not a princess—you’re a prisoner, the palace nothing more than your gilded cage that I assure you will be impossible to escape.”

I set my jaw. That didn’t mean I wasn’t going to try. I was under no delusion that I wouldn’t be executed after the royal family had gotten their use from me, which left nothing to stop me from risking it all and finding a way to acquire what I’d initially infiltrated the palace for.

The question remained whether I’d be able to locate it before the mysterious assassin found me…or if he’d strike before I even had the chance.

CHAPTER2

LUKE

The world swayed as the sickening metallic scent assaulted my senses, the cloth mask over my nose too thin a barrier to block it completely. I tried to breathe through my mouth with long, even breaths, but it did little to dispel the memory of the crimson blood staining the ground, bright even beneath the thin thread of moonlight that penetrated the cloudy night.

Don’t faint, don’t faint, don’t faint…

I silently chanted these words like a prayer as I frantically cast my mind uponanythingelse, but the wave of dizziness threatening to pull me beneath the darkness of unconsciousness was impossible to fully dispel. Bark scratched my palm as I groped for the nearest tree in an effort to keep upright.

Don’t faint.

I took another shaky gulp of air. With my rhythmic breaths and keeping my gaze averted from the sight I least wanted to see, I managed to push through my aversion just enough to maintain a sliver of composure.

My cousin and close friend, Malik, silently straightened from our prey and sheathed his stained dagger. “That wasn’t so bad, was it? It need not be so complicated, Luke.”

In theory he was correct, but the gulf between book study and application had never felt so wide as it did in this occupation forced upon me.

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